Flickr Images

Awesome Flickr

Flickr Images

About

Wednesday, 21 October 2015

Microtransaction Overkill

Last week, Overkill, developers of the much-loved PayDay 2, announced the Black Market Update, one that was met with endless hate from fans due to the fact that it introduced microtransactions to the game, despite promising a couple of times before. If you've ever read anything I've written, you know that I HATE microtransactions in any full-priced game, and I was understandably very annoyed at this one.

The update introduced safes that you could crack open for loot, but the problem was that the only way to crack open these safes were to buy drills for £1.60 each, with no way of unlocking them in the game. They don't just contain cosmetic things - game-changing items can be obtained from these, meaning that any player willing to stupidly fork out would have a distinct advantage.

So, instead of idly standing by, the fans revolted. Many threads (Including a succinctly named "F*** You Overkill") were set up on the PayDay 2 subreddit, thousands of complaints were lodged on Steam, and many people, from YouTubers to dedicated players, took to Twitter and other social networks to complain - their goal being to stop the microtransactions from coming to PayDay 2.

Today, there was some good news regarding the situation - the patch notes were modified for the Black Market Update so that drills are included in normal loot drops, so can be obtained without having to pay real cash. It's a step in the right direction, but by far no means a victory - the fact that Overkill went back on their promise that they made before is unacceptable. The reality is that these drills will be very rare, and will hardly ever drop, so we need to pressure and lobby Overkill until they completely backtrack the addition of microtransactions. Their Twitter, their Facebook, their Steam page - tell them how you feel, and they will surely have to agree sooner or later.